Ip Man (2008)
Ip Man is a 2008 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film based on the life of Ip Man, a grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun and teacher of Bruce Lee. The film focuses on events in Ip’s life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War. The film was directed by Wilson Yip, and stars Donnie Yen as Ip Man, with martial arts choreography by Sammo Hung. The supporting cast includes Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Xing Yu, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Tenma Shibuya. It is a co-production between China and Hong Kong. It is the last film to be distributed by Mandarin Films.
Ip Man is the first film in the Ip Man film series. It premiered in Beijing on 10 December 2008, and was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 19 December 2008, receiving widespread acclaim from critics and audiences. Before the film’s release, Raymond Wong announced that there would be a sequel; a second installment titled Ip Man 2, was released in April 2010, a third installment titled Ip Man 3 was released in 2015, and Ip Man 4: The Finale was released in 2019. Ip Man grossed over US$22 million worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe. Following its success, the film was nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Action Choreography.
Plot.
In 1935, Foshan is a hub of Southern Chinese martial arts, where the various schools’ students compete against each other. Ip Man, the most skilled martial artist in town, maintains a low profile while building a reputation for skill through friendly, closed-door competitions with other masters. One day, a local troublemaker named Yuan loses his kite, which lands in a tree in the Ip family’s back yard. While retrieving it, Yuan witnesses Ip defeating fellow kung fu master Liu in a sparring match, and spreads the news around town, inadvertently embarrassing Liu. Yuan’s brother Lin, a restaurant owner and disciple of Liu, publicly embarrasses Yuan as he tries to arrange a rematch between Liu and Ip, and Yuan runs away from home. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip and his family are forced to move into a decrepit apartment after the Imperial Japanese Army confiscates their house for use as a military headquarters.
Running out of valuables to sell for food, Ip gets a job at a coal mine alongside Lin, who hopes to reconcile with his brother but has so far failed to track him down. General Miura, a Japanese Karate master, sets up an arena where Chinese martial artists can challenge his military trainees for a bag of rice. Former police officer Li Zhao, now an interpreter for the Japanese, visits the mine to recruit anyone willing to fight. Ip at first declines to participate, but agrees to go when Lin fails to return from a match.
At the arena, Ip witnesses Liu being shot in the back of the head by Miura’s sadistic deputy, Colonel Sato, for picking up a bag of rice from a prior victory after giving up a second match against three karateka. Deducing that Lin was killed in his fight against Miura, Ip demands a match with ten karateka at once, whom he brutally defeats. His skill arouses the interest of Miura, who insists that Ip return as soon as possible.
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Refusing to accept the bags of rice offered for his victory, Ip quietly picks up Liu’s blood-stained bag and gifts it to his surviving family.
Jin Shanzhao, a highly-skilled Northern Chinese martial arts master who once defeated all the masters in Foshan except Ip, now leads a bandit gang and harasses the workers at a cotton mill run by Ip’s friend Chow Ching-chuen. Ip agrees to train the workers in Wing Chun for self-defence. The workers are able to stall the gang when they return long enough for Ip to arrive and defeat Jin and Yuan, now a part of the gang. After running Jin’s gang out of Foshan, Ip confronts Yuan and gives him a small tin that belonged to Lin after informing him of his brother’s death. Yuan opens the tin and finds his kite inside; this motivates Yuan to leave the gang.
When Ip does not return to the arena, Miura sends Sato and two soldiers to track him down.
After overpowering them at the apartment, Ip and his family flee and hide in Li’s house. The Japanese learn about the cotton mill and take the workers hostage. Despite Li’s warnings, Ip surrenders himself to the Japanese while arranging for his wife and son to be sent to Hong Kong for protection. Miura asks Ip to train the Japanese soldiers in Chinese martial arts, but Ip refuses and challenges Miura to a match. Though Sato insists on executing Ip, Miura accepts the challenge to uphold his honor and crush the Chinese spirit; Sato threatens Ip with death if he does not allow the General to win.
Production.
The idea of an Ip Man biopic originated in 1998 when Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen discussed the idea of making a film based on Bruce Lee’s martial arts master. However, Paragon Films Ltd, the studio producing the proposed film, closed and the project was abandoned. Producer Raymond Wong decided to develop his own Ip Man film with full consent from Ip’s sons, and had filmmakers head to Foshan to research Ip’s life. Ip Chun, Ip Man’s eldest son, along with martial arts master Leo Au-yeung,Jun Gao and several other Wing Chun practitioners served as technical consultants for the film. Principal photography for Ip Man began in March 2008 and ended in August; filming took place in Shanghai,
which was used to architecturally recreate Foshan. During filming, conflicts arose between the producers of Ip Man and filmmaker Wong Kar-wai over the film’s working title. Wong, who had been developing his own Ip Man biopic, clashed with the producers after learning that their film would be titled Grandmaster Ip Man (Chinese: 一代宗師葉問), which was too similar to the title of Wong’s film, The Grandmaster.
Ip Man is the first film based on the life of Ip Man. It also marks the fourth film collaboration between director Wilson Yip and actor Donnie Yen. The two also reunite with co-star Simon Yam after 2005’s SPL: Sha Po Lang. The screenplay for Ip Man was written by Edmond Wong, the son of film producer Raymond Wong.
Filming.
Principal photography for Ip Man began in March 2008, and was completed by the end of August. A majority of the film focuses on events surrounding Ip Man that took place in Foshan in the 1930s and 1940s during the Sino-Japanese War. Since the buildings in modern-day Foshan are architecturally different from the ones of the film’s period, the filmmakers decided to shoot the film in Shanghai. Filming first took place in a storeroom in the industrial district of Shanghai. Having difficulties scouting a cotton factory suitable for shooting, set designers decided to recreate one in the style of the 1930s. They spent weeks transforming an abandoned storeroom into the Zhen Hua Cotton Mill Factory, a 1930s cotton mill factoryRELATED:
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founded by Ip’s friend Chow Ching-chuen (played in the film by Simon Yam) during the Sino-Japanese War. It was where Ip Man first taught Wing Chun openly to the public.
Production designer Kenneth Mak included Western elements in his design, since Foshan, in earlier years, was a unique place where Chinese and Western cultures converged. Pillars were made to resemble English lampposts, and Western lighting, chairs and tableware were also used. To convey the culture and feel of the time, the buildings were made to look obsolete and worn out. Apart from historical references, Mak also created a glass house which was used in a scene in the film.
Stunts and choreography.
The martial arts choreography was designed by Sammo Hung and veteran fight and stunt coordinator Tony Leung Siu-hung. Hung had previously collaborated with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen as an actor in the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang. He was hired as the choreographer mainly because of his experience on the 1978 film Warriors Two and 1982’s The Prodigal Son, both of which involved Wing Chun. When asked how he would work with Yen to direct the action scenes, Hung replied matter-of-factly, “With my mouth.” Yen described the role as the most emotionally and mentally difficult in his career. He spent months preparing for the role by going on a strict diet which consisted of eating one meal a day, training in Wing Chun, and learning more about Ip Man through his two sons.
This was all in the hopes of portraying an erudite and cultured Ip Man, as well as bringing out the special traits of Wing Chun. Yen even went as far as to stay in character after filming, wearing his costume and changing his voice and movement patterns. While rehearsing a fight scene, Yen was reportedly injured when an axe wielder accidentally slashed the side of his left eye. Yen also had a masseur on set as he could not raise his right shoulder due to an injury. Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, who holds a black belt in Judo, found it “difficult” working under Hung’s command. In one scene, he suffered a mild concussion after receiving four consecutive blows from celebrated fight co-ordinator Edward ‘Sweco’ Chan. Hung later praised Yen and Ikeuchi’s performances in the film, even though Ikeuchi was not trained in Chinese martial arts and was not given a lot of complex moves
Reception.
Prior to its theatrical release in China, Ip Man held a test screening in Beijing on 4 December 2008. The film was highly praised, based on survey sheets returned by the audience. Donnie Yen’s portrayal of Ip Man was repeatedly hailed as the year’s best performance. High praise was also given to the film’s co-stars, Fan Siu-wong, Lam Ka-tung, and Lynn Hung. Ip Man also received positive reactions from film critics. Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir deemed Ip Man a “well-paced and satisfying piece of Chinese-nationalist pulp,” referring to the film’s heavy anti-Japanese sentiment. Derek Elley of Variety Magazine wrote in his review, “Yen, who’s taking on real star charisma in middle age, is aces as Ip, with a simple dignity that exactly mirrors the movie’s own and a gracefulness in combat that’s very different from his trademark whiplash style.”
Box office.
Ip Man grossed ¥14,948,157 (US$2,188,982) on its opening weekend in China. The film’s revenues increased largely by 86.1%, grossing ¥27,812,224 (US$4,073,201) to retain second place at the box office. The film experienced a small decrease in revenue in its third weekend, dropping 10.5% to ¥24,889,189 ($3,645,112), though remaining in second place. Ip Man continued to decrease in revenue, grossing ¥19,956,454 (US$2,922,695) in its fourth week while staying in second place. After six weeks of theatrical release, Ip Man grossed a total of ¥93,740,529 (US$13,728,640). The film was China’s 13th highest-grossing film of 2008. During its opening weekend in Hong Kong, Ip Man cameRELATED:
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in first place at the box office, grossing HK$4.5 million (US$579,715). In its second week, Ip Man moved to second place, while grossing HK$6,156,765 (US$789,303) with a 36.2% increase in revenue. After seven weeks of theatrical release in Hong Kong, Ip Man had grossed HK$25,581,958.69 (US$3,300,847) domestically. The film ranks as the 8th highest-grossing film in Hong Kong of 2008. In total, the film had grossed $22,108,789 worldwide, despite not being released in North America and most of Europe.
Cast:
- Donnie Yen as Ip Man
- Lynn Hung as Cheung Wing-sing, Ip Man’s wife.
- Hiroyuki Ikeuchi as General Miura
- Tenma Shibuya as Colonel Sato
- Gordon Lam as Li Chiu.
- Fan Siu-wong as Jin Shanzhao
- Simon Yam as Chow Ching-chuen
- Xing Yu as Lin
- Wong You-nam as Yuan
- Calvin Cheng as Chow Kong-yiu
- Chen Zhihui as Master Liu